Friday, April 07, 2006

Spying leaks from space

This is a neat trick for finding gas leaks – spot them from space by monitoring vegetation.

It's only good for spotting industrial pipeline leaks. Still, it's a clever new application for satellite sensing. A sat armed with an infrared instrument can spot leaks by sensing the near-infrared spectral signal changes that occur when plants get "stressed".

Researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK have found that grass, wheat and beans could be used to find gas leaks up to 7 days before any visible symptoms appear. Researcher Mike Steven presented details of the work yesterday at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Canterbury.